


Your True Name

by SusanaR



Series: Desperate Hours Alternative Universe G version (DH AU G) [60]
Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Faramir's daughter - Freeform, Fourth Age, Khand, Love, Magic, Marriage, Massage, Post-War, Post-War of the Ring, Romance, Secret Identity, Spies & Secret Agents, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 09:43:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14892242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SusanaR/pseuds/SusanaR
Summary: Imperial Prince He-Jin of Khand just wants to know one thing about his mystery woman.





	Your True Name

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This story is set in about Fourth Age year 34, in the capitol city of Khand. For more about Faramir's youngest daughter Haleth, see the end note.

"Ooh . . . oh yes . . . oh, please, there, harder! Oh dear Sun, you have magic hands." 

"And I could put them to better use if you didn't always come to me tied up in knots, Lotus-Flower," chided Imperial Prince He-Jin as he massaged away the tension in his lover's back and upper arms. 

"It's from doing the washing," she explained, turning around on the bed to catch his hand and pull him down beside her. 

Willingly he followed, for she had him bewitched. He was the newly acknowledged son of the Sun, now the greatest imperial prince of mighty Khand, and yet he was putty in the hands of this slip of a girl. And he didn't even know her name. 

She had an exotically shaped face, rounded curves where most men and women of Khand were all angles. She did her best to hide it with paints and shadows, and she did hide it well indeed. 

He-Jin had encountered her as a maid, an errand-boy, and a scribe before he figured out that she was all the same person, and all female. Her eyes were dark, because she meant to look of Khand. One of He-Jin's dearest desires was to know the real shade of her eyes. He'd imagined them a slightly foreign amber, or a northern blue, or even that strange color known as hazel that was neither brown, nor green, nor amber, but some of each. 

But more even than that, he wanted to know . . . "What is your true name, Lotus-Flower?" 

She wrinkled her forehead in irritation, likely hoping to put him off asking by doing so, but in truth looking only more adorable to his own dark eyes. 

"I like it when you call me Lotus-Flower, He-Jin," she protested, gently pushing him away and getting to her feet. 

"I still will call you so, for so you are. But I want to know your real name." 

"Want, you want," She complained, wrapping a dark blue silk robe - his silk robe - around her slender body, "You don't need to know it, He-Jin." 

He reached out a hand, neither pleading nor forcing. Her stubborn expression softened, and she took it. 

He-Jin turned over her palm, calloused today but possibly smooth tomorrow, and kissed the top of her hand. The same way that he would kiss her hand if she were a district princess, and a competitor for his hand in marriage. 

"You helped me wrest the northwest provinces away from the foul Blood Mage Kang-Bai, and his blood-mad followers," He-Jin said softly, in the same tone of voice he had once used to coax the greater imperial princes into paying better attention to their lessons so that he would not be punished for their failings. 

"I wasn't even there, He-Jin!" 

"Not for the battles by the sea of Rhun, but you were there two years ago, when Kang-Bai first killed his prince and took over the province. If not for your assistance, I would have failed, and he would have taken half the north. During the war, you stopped both of his attempts at a palace coup. My grandfather doesn't know your real name either, but he and our Empress both owe their lives to you." 

"I didn't do it alone, He-Jin," she whispered, kneeling before him and kissing his hand in turn. "There are so many here in the capital who like the idea of a scholar prince for the next Emperor of Khand. Most of them knew that I was your agent, and they gave me their loyalty. In some cases, they even gave me their lives." 

They both bowed their heads in silence for a moment, thinking of those lives lost. He-Jin had seen to the care of their families, using his new wealth and power to do so, but he knew that nothing could replace a lost parent or child. Not He-Jin’s money, his patronage, or his sorrow. He-Jin would continue to do his duty by those who supported him, but he had his own life to live, as well. A life of great privilege and power but also one of great burdens. Burdens that he could best bear if she stood beside him. 

"Give up your birth people, Lotus-Flower, and be of Khand," He begged her, "Whoever you serve, I will pay them to release you. Fear not that you would be welcomed here. The northwest knows what it owes you. They would claim you as a lesser princess, and then you could be my bride." 

"Don't worry, He-Jin," She promised, leaning forward to cup his cheek in her hand, "If that is what you want, it can be. Just be patient for a month." 

"A month," he repeated, accustomed but not pleased to find himself once more outmaneuvered and befuddled by this clever, maddening woman. 

"I love you, too," She said, winking as she took off his robe and pulled out the laundress's uniform she had arrived in. 

He sighed, summoning his patience, then asked, "Lotus-Flower, what will happen in a month?"

But it was no use. She was already gone, disappeared from his chambers as smoothly as if she were a ghost. He had no idea when he would see her again, and unless it was an emergency he dared not ask their go-betweens to take her a message. 

As often was the case with her, the warning made sense in only a few hours. He was dining with his grandfather the Emperor and the Emperor's wife. The topic of discussion turned to the state visit of Prince Faramir and the Lady Eowyn, emissaries from the powerful King Elessar of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. 

"The northerner King’s natural son and his Rohirric wife should arrive next month, and they are bringing their youngest daughter, the Princess Haleth," clucked Empress Ya-Lin. 

Emperor Wu-Qiang raised an interested eyebrow, "Oh? And what do we know of her?" 

Ever since He-Jin's selection as the Emperor's heir, the Empress had been dedicating herself to the calling of finding him a wife. At thirty, he was considered not just old but ancient for an imperial heir without a son to follow him. He-Jin had loved his own mother dearly. He hadn't wanted to marry for aught but love. Now, unless his Lotus-Flower could fix things so that they could wed, or let him make the arrangements, he would have to. 

But this visit of foreign royalty, in a month, that had possibilities. She had told him to wait a month. And he had often thought the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor in the north to be a possible home for her. But even the Two Kingdoms did not use women as spies, let alone King's granddaughters. 

"Princess Haleth is twenty-seven," the Empress duly reported, "But the Northerners live long lives. Amongst their kind, she is considered young for marriage." 

"But could she bear children?" the Emperor asked bluntly. 

"Her mother bore five, two of them sons. And the Prince Faramir has already been blessed with two grand-sons from his oldest girl, who married at twenty-five." 

Empress Ya-Lin smiled kindly at He-Jin and added, "The northerner King’s granddaughter Haleth could bear you sons for many years, grandson. Her mother Eowyn bore a healthy boy at fifty-four years of age." 

"There could be many advantages to a marriage with a foreign bride, He-Jin," the Emperor mused, "Gondor and Arnor have many technologies and skills we could use. Particularly if Kang-Bai continues to be a pestilence." 

"I agree, great Sun," said He-Jin, hope in his heart. To improve his grandfather's disposition to such a match, He-Jin added, "Prince Faramir impressed me as a noble and wise man, and as a great commander of warriors, when we fought the mages beside him and the other Northerners at the Sea of Rhun." 

In a month, He-Jin had his answers. The true name of his Lotus-Flower was Haleth Faramiriel. She had hazel eyes and hair the color of ripened wheat. She left her people and married him, but He-Jin understood that she would always be of Gondor and Arnor as well as of Khand. And he thought that a good thing. There was much that he had come to admire, of the Two Kingdoms, even if he felt that he himself had been gifted their greatest jewel.

**Author's Note:**

> For more about how Haleth became a spy, see "Not My Daughter" and "Captain Dervorin of the Silent Service Takes a New Recruit" (links below). 
> 
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/214796/chapters/344733
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/650938
> 
> Haleth and Eowyn speak briefly about Haleth's career choices in "Wishes," chapter 28 of the Tales of the Telcontars: 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/656788
> 
> Please disregard the date in "Wishes," it probably takes place in Fourth Age year 29 or 30 rather than 34. 
> 
> In “Your True Name,” both He-Jin and Haleth refer to the First Blood Mage War, and the events preceding it which were based in Khand. 
> 
> The three Blood Mage wars form an important part of a series of events I came up with in order to give my Fourth Age characters something heroic and important to do. My events are a little similar in theme to some of Tolkien’s vague Fourth Age ideas for challenges that Eldarion (Aragorn & Arwen’s son and heir) might have to deal with. 
> 
> Tolkien considered writing about Eldarion’s reign in a book called “The New Shadow,” about Eldarion trying to stop some of his people from turning to evil practices. The Blood Mages in my AU are former pupils of the Blue Wizard Alatar. They killed their teacher Alatar and turned to dark ways centuries ago, while living mostly in the countries of Rhun, Harad and Khand, lands then controlled by humans loyal to Sauron. By the Fourth Age, the Blood Mages are killing and burning human, elven, dwarven, and orcish victims in order to create greater and greater power for themselves to wield. They also try to expand outside of their traditional areas of influence and into new parts of Harad, Rhun, and Khand, and even into Gondor and Arnor, in order to gain more power. 
> 
> My stories that have to do with the Blood Mages or what the Blood Mages can do include: 
> 
> “Nepotism,” a Legolas and Gimli ficlet which takes place during the Second Blood Mage War, after Legolas has been rescued from the Blood Mages after being taken captive during an earlier battle. It is available here: 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/14875961
> 
> “Great Mistakes,” a story about the Blood Mages setting siege to Imladris, and Eldarion, Elboron, and Elboron’s younger brother Elion coming to the rescue. It can be found here: 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/14875881
> 
> “Dribbling Mad” chapter 22, which features of a vision of the future set during the Second Blood Mage War, which should be posted later this week. The earlier chapters of Dribbling Mad, a Thranduil and Theli friendship story, can be found: 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887622/chapters/29441016
> 
> “Burning Mad,” chapter 69 in the Tales of the Telcontars, which is about Faramir’s middle daughter Mithiriel (an OC) being kidnapped by a mage who is similar to the Blood Mages that the Fourth Age characters will meet later. “Burning Mad” is available here: 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/214796/chapters/16360607


End file.
